Middle-order must be cleaned to beat Sri Lanka on Day 5

Sri Lanka finished day 4 on 63 for the loss of first innings centurion, Kaushal Silva and veteran Kumar Sangakkara after they had posted a total of 300 in their first innings, earlier in the test match.

Day 4 began with pakistan struggling on 118 for the loss of 5 wickets having keeper Sarfraz and middle order batsman, Asad Shafiq on the crease. Sarfraz led the comeback with a brilliantly unorthodox 96, falling agonizingly short of a well deserved century before eventually getting bowled out, playing a sweep shot to Prasad. After the dismissal of Sarfraz, Asad Shafiq played a mature knock, anchoring pakistan close to the lead. Asad Shafiq hit 5 boundaries in his patient 131.

Shafiq put on some really solid partnerships with the tail-enders, eventually, giving pakistan a well earned lead. He contributed well in his partnerships of 38 and 29 with Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah respectively before putting up a mammoth 101 run stand with ace spinner, Zulfiqar Babar. pakistan got out on 417, leading Srilanka by 117.

Openers saw out eight tight overs from Pakistan’s new ball pair before Wahab Riaz struck the first blow, inducing Kaushal Silva to edge one to third slip. Dimuth Karunaratne and Kumar Sangakkara played cautiously against a probing Pakistani attack. However, their stand couldn’t last long as Kumar Sangakkara was caught by Azhar Ali off Yasir Shah’s vicious leg spin.

pakistan will look to dominate on day 5 and somehow clean up the Sri Lankan middle-order if they want to carve out a win from what seems to be a very difficult position.